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Dear Reader,
I loved reading the new upcoming book Mambo in Chinatown, by today's Guest Columnist Jean Kwok. I also went to Jean's website to watch the video she mentions in her column today, and I found another video--part a documentary series about the life of an immigrant--Jean Kwok. It was amazing.
And Jean is an amazingly well-rounded woman, as she says, "I love to cook, though I burn everything when I'm writing, which is most of the time. I also love to dance, which is a good thing, because I can never say no to a piece of chocolate cake! I have one husband, two sons ages seven and ten, and three cats who boss us all around."
Born in Hong Kong, Jean immigrated to Brooklyn as a young girl. She received her bachelor's degree from Harvard and completed an MFA in Fiction at Columbia. She worked as an English teacher and Dutch-English translator at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and now writes full-time. Jean is also the author of the best-selling book, Girl in Translation.
Be sure to enter Jean Kwok's giveaway. You could win one of the five copies of Mambo in Chinatown. (Details of the giveaway are at the end of her column.)
Thanks for visiting the book clubs today, Jean...
I was a clumsy child, brought up in poverty by an old-fashioned, aristocratic mother. Although our family had been quite wealthy in China, we lost everything during the Communist Revolution and our move to the United States. My mother, however, retained firm ideas of how a young girl should behave. Anything like running, skipping, hanging upside down from monkey bars (!) was strictly forbidden. Furthermore, we found ourselves in the slums of Brooklyn, living in an unheated, roach-infested apartment. My entire family, including me at five years old, started working at a sweatshop in New York's Chinatown. There was no time or money for any type of extracurricular activities, like sports or dance lessons.
I envied my friends with their long hair, shining eyes and beautiful dresses, flitting around the classroom to show what they'd learned in their ballet classes. I was a dreamy, unathletic immigrant child who wore ill-fitting clothing and had no idea how to fit in. To make things worse, after I learned to speak English, I was known by my classmates as the "Queen of the Brains." By the time I was thirteen, I was nearsighted yet absolutely refused to wear my enormous purple glasses for vanity reasons. This meant that any ball headed my way in gym class was a blur, and I'd do my best to avoid getting hit by it. Needless to say, I was always the last one picked for any sport team.
And yet my mind was filled with impossible dreams. I dreamed of escaping our grueling life at the clothing factory. I dreamed of books. And I dreamed of becoming as graceful and elegant as a dancer.
After I left high school, I went to Harvard, where I realized I wanted to become a writer. I'd worked up to four jobs at a time in college to support myself, so after graduation, I searched for a day job that would allow me to write at night. I saw an ad in the paper that read, "Wanted: Professional Ballroom Dancer, Will Train." I was terrified but I still applied. Miraculously, after the interview, an audition, and a three-week training class, I was hired by Fred Astaire Studios in New York City. I taught mambo, waltz and tango, and danced in competitions and shows for three years before leaving to go to Columbia University for an MFA in Fiction. My debut novel Girl in Translation hit the New York Times bestseller list and is assigned in schools across the world, and my new novel is coming out at the end of June. Somehow, my impossible dreams have come true.
Well, I don't know about the graceful and elegant part. I'm still quite clumsy. When I do radio and television interviews, I often ask for no water because that means I won't be able to knock it over. I scorch everything when I cook and if I walk down a street with someone, I'm quite likely to bump into them by accident. But I no longer work in a sweatshop, books are my life, and I can dance. That's more than enough for me.
If you'd like to see a recent video of me dancing, it's on the upper right if you click here: http://www.jeankwok.com/events.shtml I have to confess that I hit my handsome and forgiving partner on the head many times during rehearsals!
My wonderful publisher Riverhead Books is giving away five copies of Mambo in Chinatown. Winners will be chosen at random from those who email me at [email protected] to share their own impossible dreams. I'd love to hear from you! [I'll be traveling when this post appears, so I'll be able to respond to your email after 5 May.]
--Jean Kwok
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
AUTHORBUZZ: FOREVER WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella (Fiction) by Shayla Black
Since introducing Jason and 'Greta' (Gia) in my New York Times bestselling series, Wicked Lovers, I've been fascinated in this couple's story--a billionaire and a police officer who seem to have nothing in common. I found myself pondering--what does their relationship look like? What drew them to one another? What are their stumbling blocks to a happily ever? It's part of my new 1001 Dark Nights series, featuring a different bestselling author each month.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on FOREVER WICKED to find out more about the book and the author, Shayla Black. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.
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